Nearly 20% of the employees are foreigners at this renowned manufacturer in Osaka, where 16 of the 90 employees are not Japanese. The company even states that it wouldn’t mind if half the company were foreigners.

Abuse of the Trainee System

Many foreign employees were originally taken in as “trainees”, who then make great employees. However, there has been controversy over some companies taking in trainees as a way of acquiring cheap labour. Due to a trainee being unable to change job or find other employment, many foreigners (mainly from Asia) have been abused by the system. Some earning as little as 70,000 yen a month (closer to one-third of what you would expect).

Fortunately, Japan has created new laws and taken steps to stop the abuse to foreign trainee workers. However, Prime Minister Abe says that he will never change immigration laws to counter Japan’s decreasing population and worker shortages.

Labour shortages in Japan

One major reason companies are looking outside of Japan for employees is a simple labour shortage. Especially for work with difficult conditions, such as the manufacturing of plastic that takes place between 200 and 300 degrees. There have even been instances of employees quitting within a couple of days.

While the number of companies looking abroad for employees is increasing, it is still a very difficult process. One of the reasons for this is because the company has to apply for a work visa. Documents such as the company’s profit statements must be handed into the immigration bureau. Furthermore, due to employees requiring more training, the costs are also higher.

Hopefully, there will be more and more work for gaikokujin, with better and better conditions in the near future.